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Android Source Code - Notes

Lars Vogel

Version 0.5

29.01.2011

Revision History
Revision 0.1 26.10.2010 Lars
Vogel
Created
Revision 0.2 - 0.5 12.12.2010 - 29.01.2011 Lars
Vogel
bug fixes and enhancements

How to compile the Android source code

This article contains a few pointer to get the Android source code and to compile the Android source code. It also looks how to download the source code for the Android Development Tools (which are Eclipse plugins). It is more a list of notes for myself. The description is based on Ubuntu.


Table of Contents

1. Git and repo
2. Adding the framework source to Eclipse
3. Thank you
4. Questions and Discussion
5. Links and Literature
5.1. Source Code
5.2. Android Resources
5.3. vogella Resources

1. Git and repo

To get the Android source code you to use two tools, Git and an additional tool called repo.

A modern version of Ubuntu has already everything necessary. Just install Git The installation of repo and the necessary steps for other platforms is described in Getting the Android Source code. After you installed the repo tool you can get the Android source code with the following command.

			
// To get the current master 
repo init -u git://android.git.kernel.org/platform/manifest.git ; repo sync ; 


		

The command "git branch -a" show you all available branches, e.g. froyo and gingerbread. You can checkout them via "git checkout branch_name".

To compile the code run the following command.

			
make
		

2. Adding the framework source to Eclipse

Unfortunately Android does not provide the framework source code as part of the standard Android Installation. For example if you open the class "android.view.ViewGroup" you only see the byte-code.

After downloading the Android source code you can fix this, by creating a zip file of the Android standard Java classes and attaching this to your Android jar file. You find these classes in the "/frameworks/base/core/java" directory. Create a zip file from these classes ("zip -r source.zip android") and attach it to your Android jar .

An easier way of getting the source into your Eclipse installation is to use the "Android Sources" plugin from http://code.google.com/p/adt-addons/ . Haris Peco maintains plugins with gives access to the Android Source code. Using the Eclipse update manager install two of his plugins. Update site: "http://adt-addons.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/source/com.android.ide.eclipse.source.update" and "http://adt-addons.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/binedit/com.android.ide.eclipse.binedit.update".

3. Thank you

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4. Questions and Discussion

Before posting questions, please see the vogella FAQ. If you have questions or find an error in this article please use the www.vogella.com Google Group. I have created a short list how to create good questions which might also help you.

5. Links and Literature

5.1. Source Code

Source Code of Examples

5.3. vogella Resources

Eclipse RCP Training (German) Eclipse RCP Training with Lars Vogel

Android Tutorial Introduction to Android Programming

GWT Tutorial Program in Java and compile to JavaScript and HTML

Eclipse RCP Tutorial Create native applications in Java

JUnit Tutorial Test your application

Git Tutorial Put everything you have under distributed version control system